Issue - meetings

At its meeting on the 26^th September 2013 the Health and Wellbeing Board (HWB) agreed it would receive regular updates on the progress in completing the annual Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) to increase its knowledge which would assist in informing the HWB priorities.

The report outlined the process for undertaking the 2013/14 JSNA, the suggested areas that would be covered and the key milestone dates and actions.

Dr Marossy explained that a Steering Groups had considered the JSNA and identified 3 additional areas for the new JSNA; Ward Health Profiles, Frequent Attenders to Unscheduled Care Services and Asset Based Community Development. Following this a working Group had indentified leads for the specific sections and the information was published on the “My Life” website.

The timetable for the production of the plan was that Key Milestone data would be collected, collated and drafted by April 2014.  A draft could be circulated between May and July 2014 and the plan would be finalised in September; allowing the Board to prioritise the needs for the following year.

The chairman highlighted the importance of the information being available to the public and Dr Marossy explained the JSNA was already on the “My Life” website however the tables and data were not published as they were constantly changing and would be difficult to keep updated on the web.

Officers then explained that the strategy covered the period from 2012 – 2015.  However a “desktop” strategy would be undertaken to look at any minor changes.  Planning for the new strategy would begin once the JSNA had been agreed.

The Chairman re-iterated that Member involvement was crucial and encouraged Members of the Board to become involved in the working Groups.

When referring to the detail in the Ward Health Profiles the Board was informed that for some indicators, for example life expectancy, the data would be very detailed but for others, such as air quality may be less so. 

Members highlighted the areas could vary considerably between wards and that the dichotomy between polling districts and the ward boundaries meant that some of the detail could be lost. Dr Marossy agreed this was an area that needed further consideration as there were a number of discrepancies.

The Board representative for the voluntary sector reported on a “robust” discussion that had taken place and, in summary, requested an easy to read copy of the executive summary.  Dr Marossy would progress the request. 

Councillor Evans sought clarification on the reference to Asset Based Community Development, a framework for using assets.  In response Dr Marossy explained this was a complex area of the JSNA.  In the past certain areas had been designated as deprived and in need and therefore received funding.  This was no longer the case and officers would be looking at projects and schemes that were currently running in the community and offering support with smaller amounts of funding.

RESOLVED that the report is noted.